Spoilers for Monday 20th December 2021 (Series 84, QF4)

[Philip A]

Winner plays Ahmed.

[Philip A]

COMIGRATE in R2

[Johnny Canuck]

Got today’s wikicap, all. Am both on holiday and locked down!

[Philip A]

VIRULENT in R4
BEFORE in R7

[Johnny Canuck]

MEIOTIC in last letters round.

[Philip A]

Armchair perfect game for me.

126 - highest score in fourth quarter-final?

Well played Jeremy. Commiserations to Matt, but a really nice combined total over 200 in the end.

[Ryan Lam]

The final week of Countdown this year gets underway, and Susie Dent's safe and well at the time of recording which is a relief as she's back, and for the first time together with Dr. Anne-Marie on-screen. Reverend Richard Coles also shares about his upcoming appearance on "Celebrity Chase" on ITV on Boxing Day! If you're interested to find out how his team did you've got to stick around then! In the meantime, let's see how this game got on!

Letters: Jeremy pulls ahead with PALINODE in R1 and then beat Matt with INVERTS in R4. Next, it was literally neck-and-neck in terms of this aspect and the high point came when both got IDOLATERS in R8, brilliant! Alas, after the second commercial break, Matt took a hit with the invalid declaration of morales (which is a common mistake seen on-screen admittedly) in R11. and a difficult selection in R13 meant the game was over for him.

Numbers: Both stick to their usual choices for the first three Numbers round and I hope the curse of CECIL going easy on a Finals match (albeit not as ridiculously easy) just like what happened in the first Quarter-Final isn't here to stay. Jeremy is up again with his unconventional solving techniques which made Dr. Anne-Marie impressed! Then, came the "surprise"; even though Matt had lost by R14, he goes for a choice he never gone before, 4 Large (which Adam Latchford, the Grand Champion of Series 83 had a hunch he might do according to the Daily Chat), and it wasn't so bad after all, for both players got the answer and took all the 40 points away on this match! Great work all round!

Conundrum: Why did I find this so familiar? Turns out some people in the Daily Chat noticed this too and it was actually the Conundrum used for the Grand Final of Series 7 decades ago (and I did watch a recording of it on YouTube years ago!)! Got this one pretty quickly and so did Jeremy who initially fumbled but pronounced the answer clearly, resulting in his best score ever!

What a brilliant final Quarter-Final that was! I think the last time we've gotten such a high score in such a setting was back in Series 77 around this time in 2017 when Noel McIlvenny faced against Eoin Jackson. Jeremy's score of 126 trumped Noel's score when the latter won and it is the best performing score for the fourth Quarter-Final in history! I always thought Jeremy would win this comfortably despite the fact that the #4 and #5 Seed facing off each other usually results in close games. With the margin at 32 points, that's not far off from my prediction of 30 points. It's a shame that someone had to lose and that someone is Matt, but there's no shame in losing, for you put up a spectacular performance too! The fact you survived many close shaves and to be still around says a lot about your perseverance. You never quit until the very end and I hoped you had fun during your entire run! This is definitely an episode I will remember from this Series, that's for sure! Incredible performance and both contestants definitely deserve a round of applause all round.

Jeremy is off to face Ahmed tomorrow with Anne cautioning him how strong the latter is, but even though he is the underdog, rightly as he put it, he's got "nothing to lose and everything to gain". Let's see what happens in "The Battle of the Hairdos" and see what genre of music they like (I hope!)

Progress:
QF1 (15 December): Ahmed Mohamed (#1) vs Janet Noe (#8) (143 - 59)
QF2 (16 December): Stu Harkness (#2) vs Roddie Bell (#7) (112 - 82)
QF3 (17 December): Florence Cappleman-Lynes (#3) vs Jasamrit Rahala (#6) (121 - 62)
QF4 (20 December): Jeremy Slaney (#4) vs Matt Gould (#5) (126 - 94)
SF1 (21 December): Ahmed Mohamed (QF1 Winner) vs Jeremy Slaney (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (22 December): Stu Harkness (QF2 Winner) vs Florence Cappleman-Lynes (QF3 Winner)
GF (23 December): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)

[John Garcia]

Did they miss INSULTER? (I forget which round)

[Philip A]

Did they miss INSULTER? (I forget which round)

Yes, in Round 4.

[Martin Hurst]

Is this the first time the four quarter final winners have scored over 500 points combined?

[Toby McDonald]

RIVULETS also in R4
PROBIE also in R7

[Martin Hurst]

Is this the first time the four quarter final winners have scored over 500 points combined?

Pretty sure it is after a quick look, and I'm pretty sure it's never been done in any COCs or the 30BC either!